Football, Gabrielle Giffords

So, first of all, I want to congratulate the Seattle Seahawks. Nice work putting the Saints away. I was pulling for you after hearing all the football experts talk about how the Saints were going walk all over you, and you put those experts DOWN. Marshawn Lynch’s fourth quarter run was FUCKING AWESOME. While putting that Saints would-be tackler into the ground, he was thinking “THIS SHIT WILL NOT STAND”. So, yeah, exciting game. My little brother was pulling for the Saints. I don’t know why. WHATEVER.

Onto more serious matters. Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona was shot today, along with her retinue of aids and a 9-year-old girl. 5 people died at the scene and the little girl died upon arrival at the hospital.

Now, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that this was… if not politically motivated, then at least politically instigated. Reports coming out have said that the shooter was mentally unbalanced, and yeah, more often then not, these sorts of people don’t possess sound mind and judgement. And perhaps he’s not a right-wing nut job. Maybe. Maybe he’s not. It’s not known yet.

But whatever. This isn’t all about him. This is about right-wing extremism.

Seriously, what the fuck is your major malfunction?  There is regular vitriol and threats of violence from right-wing extremists towards those on the left. For whatever reason, right-wing extremists tend towards violence, they tend toward anger, and their general strategy is to stoke rage and fear among any who would choose to listen to them. Sarah Palin posted a map of states where Democratic representatives were running for re-election on her Facebook page during the Congressional races. She targetted them with bullseyes. Seriously, what the fuck? “Don’t retreat, RELOAD!” Sound familiar?

Mind you, in general I restrict this sort of characterisation to the extremists. I know many people who lean toward the right, and even those who lean heavily toward the right. They are normal, sane people who I just happen to disagree with. I think they are wrong, they think I am wrong. However, they allow me the freedom to be wrong. They try to change my mind, but in the end, they accept that it is STILL my mind.

Extremists do not think that. They think that they are right, and that they are always right, and they will scream that they are right, right, RIGHT all the time until everyone else thinks the same way they do. They do not allow for compromise, they do not allow for differences in opinion, they allow nothing other than their ironclad resolution to their own right-ness. They “stick to their guns”, they do not stray from the flock, they have a complete, simple narrative that they continually espouse, no matter how fucked-up.

So… yeah. Basically, fuck extremists. I know it’s sort of an ill-formed argument, but whatever.

Cape Wind, Wind Energy

An article in TIME magazine by Bryan Walsh in April of 2010 reported that the offshore wind farm Cape Wind was approved by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar after 10 years of debates in spite of opposition from local citizens and Massachusetts politicians. If the construction of Cape Wind in Cape Cod goes ahead as expected, it would be the first offshore wind farm in the United States. Among the opponents to this $1 billion project include the late Ted Kennedy, current Massachusetts Republican Senator Scott Brown, and various other landowners. Among their complaints include an overreaching federal government trespassing on state rights, decreased property values near the wind farm, disrupting submerged Indian burial grounds, and distracting from the view of Nantucket Sound. Proponents of the project, including Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick and Secretary of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs Ian Bowles, argue that the wind farm would provide 75% of the energy needs of residents of Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, and Nantucket. Secretary Salazar went further to say that Nantucket Sound has already been industrialized by fisheries and cell phone and broadcast towers in the area. However, in response to residential concerns, Salazar put the wind farms further away from land and reduced the number of turbines.

Bryan Walsh suggested that if the project went ahead, then it could be a boost for wind energy. Since wind is stronger and more constant near the ocean, it would be a better and more reliable source than inland currents. However, the maintenance costs for offshore wind farms are also greater than that on on-land wind farms due to corrosion from seawater and the salty air. Walsh also mentioned concerns that if all offshore wind farms required this much legislation and hand-wringing, then it could be some time before offshore wind energy could be properly utilized across the United States. Overall, Walsh gave a balanced report on the current status of Cape Wind and where local politicians in Massachusetts stood on the issue. My only criticism is that Walsh failed to mention the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, a non-profit environmental organization whose membership claim some big political names including former presidential candidate Mitt Romney and other local politicians like former gubernatorial candidate Christy Mihos and Representative Bill Delahunt. The Alliance also claims many homeowners who live near Nantucket Sound, many of whom have expensive estates and claim that the construction of Cape Wind would drive down their property values. David Tuerk and Jonathan Haughton of the Boston Globe have also been critical of Cape Wind, claiming that people would have to pay tens of millions for wind energy than they do now.

However, for all the faux-environmental protestations raised by the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, its members are driven by financial reasons. Indeed, the co-chairman of the Alliance is Bill Koch, a businessman whose empire was built on oil refining. Cost and aesthetics cannot be the only arguments against wind energy. The construction of Cape Wind is an incredibly important component of the burgeoning renewable energy movement in the United States. According the Department of Energy, the areas just off the East and West Coasts of the United States (and to a slightly lesser extent, the middle of the United States) have some of the highest wind speeds and wind densities, two qualities important for strong, consistent wind power. Many of major cities in the United States are located near or on the coasts, so the expansion of wind energy to these areas would greatly reduce the country’s reliance on fossil fuels. Individual agendas cannot be the only consideration when it comes to sustainability.

On the Issue of Affirmative Action

I have a Facebook friend (who I’m not sure I know in real life) who regularly uses his status to inform the world about liberals infringing on his rights as a citizen. Normally, I don’t discuss or care about politics, but when I do, I tend to come down as a liberal, as a socialist, and as a communist. Personally, I believe that brainwash-induced/drug-induced communism and divinely-sanctioned monarchism are the most perfect (not the best, the most perfect) forms of government while a republic, a democracy, and any other form of representative government are the most flawed. Mind you, this we live in a fictional world where people are saints, where non-fattening ice cream grows in trees, where unicorns prance around blithely, and where 20th-Century Fox releases awesome movies like they used to instead of the drivel they’ve been pumping out for the last year and a half. So, in lieu of a such a world, democracy is the best compromise.

Anyway, getting back to my conservative Facebook friend’s status. Tonight, he posted this: “Oregon now requires their athletic directors at public universities to interview 1 minority coach for any open coaching jobs. They should also be required to interview a gay coach, a woman, a person from each race, someone who is mentally handicap[ped], physically disabled, and a cartoon rabbit. If you didn’t catch the sarcasm, you are an idiot. Stop bringing race into it. Credentials and character should be the only factors.”

Here is my rebuttal. Certainly, credentials and character should be the only factors if we lived in a perfect world where race wasn’t an issue. Race is still an issue. In this world, we do not live in a post-racial world. We don’t live in a post-discrimination world. I think that at some point, perhaps when the majority of the human population is no longer a single race but born from parents of mixed races, we will achieve a post-racial world, but not yet.

And in this world of ours, where race is still an issue and still a barrier, minorities ought to be given a chance. What the state of Oregon was saying was, “Don’t ignore these people. At least give them a chance”. They didn’t say, “You have to hire these people”. They said, “Look at these people, and if you think that they have a chance to make it as a good coach, then hire them”. I don’t see what the problem is there.

After scrolling down a bit, I read a comment that says “Reverse-racism is just as a bad as racism”.” No, it’s not. Not really. What does reverse-racism affect? It affects the chance of one person to get a job. Now if that person is you, then yes, I can see why that would be a problem and why you would have cause to be angry. But what does racism affect? Racism affects a whole race of people and makes them think “I can’t do this, this is not within my reach because that’s the way the world works, and it will never change”. Racism drains the hope of an entire people until one person can break through. That is what affirmative action is meant to do.

Now certainly, if those barriers didn’t exist, then affirmative action is needless. But those barriers do exist, in sports, politics, medicine, and in basically all fields. Yes, people should be judged only by the credentials, but that’s not how the world works. That’s not how the world operates. Affirmative action will no longer be an issue when race is no longer an issue.

Obama and Hamburgers

Okay, so I know this is a bit old, but I found out that conservative pundits took issue with Obama wanting spicy mustard, like Dijon mustard, on his hamburgers. Somehow, not having ketchup on a burger is crazy. What the hell is wrong with that? I LIKES MY FUCKING MUSTARD! FUCK YOU, YOU MUSTARD-HATING BASTARDS!